JP2002242067A - Ball-shaped stable composed of biodegradable fiber - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a ball-shaped fiber composed of a biodegradable fiber, which is suitable as a wad for bedding, sofa, cushion, interior automotive trim, etc., due to having excellent bulkiness, can be composed due to having biodegradability, has a slight load to the environment since the stable is decomposed in two or three years in landfilling. SOLUTION: This ball-shaped fiber is constituted of staple fiber which comprises a biodegradable thermoplastic resin and has 2-40 dtex single fiber fineness and 25-64 mm fiber length and is formed in a ball shape having 3-20 mm average diameter.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a ball-shaped cotton made of biodegradable fibers, which is suitably used for bedding, sofas, cushions, fillings for automobile interior materials, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Urethane and polyester short fibers are widely used as fillers for bedding, sofas, cushions, automobile interior materials and the like. (For example, JP-A-55-47888) is well known. However, in this method, there are problems that the short fibers are agglomerated at the time of blowing and it is difficult to blow, or it is difficult to uniformly fill the side ground.

[0003] Therefore, a method has been proposed in which the fibers are beaded to obtain a good filling workability and a uniform filling (for example, JP-A-6-134150, JP-A-7-150455). No., JP-A-8-229
255). However, it has been pointed out that polyurethane and polyester used as ball-shaped cotton by these methods are difficult to recycle and environmental pollution when discarded.

[0004]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems and has excellent bulkiness, so that it is suitable as a filling material for bedding, sofas, cushions, interior materials for automobiles, and biodegradable. It is technically possible to provide a ball-shaped cotton made of biodegradable fiber, which can be composted, etc., and has a low environmental load because it is decomposed in 2 to 3 years even when it is landfilled. Issues.

[0005]

Means for Solving the Problems The present inventors have made intensive studies to develop a new ball-shaped cotton ball for filling without the above-mentioned disadvantages, and as a result, have reached the present invention. That is, the present invention is formed of a biodegradable thermoplastic resin, and has a single fiber fineness of 2 to 40 dtex, and is composed of short fibers having a fiber length of 25 to 64 mm. The gist of the present invention is a ball-shaped cotton made of biodegradable fibers.

[0006]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. In the present invention, it is necessary that the fibers constituting the ball cotton have biodegradability. The fibers used in the present invention may be any fibers having biodegradability, such as polylactic acid, polyethylene succinate,
Polybutylene succinate, polycaprolactone, poly (β-hydroxybutyric acid), polyester carbonate,
Alternatively, any of these copolymers and the like may be combined. Among them, polylactic acid has the same excellent moldability as polyester and the like, and is most preferable.

Next, the single fiber fineness needs to be 2 to 40 dtex, preferably 4 to 22 dtex. If the single fiber fineness is less than 2 dtex, the diameter of the ball-shaped cotton becomes small and the compression elasticity is inferior.
Exceeding 0 dtex or more is not preferred because the rigidity of the fiber is too strong and it is difficult to bead.

It is necessary that the fiber length is 25 to 64 mm, preferably 30 to 50 mm. Fiber length is 2
If it is less than 5 mm, the diameter of the ball-shaped cotton becomes small and the compression elasticity is inferior, so that it is not preferable. If the fiber length is 64 mm or more, it is not preferable because it becomes too entangled and hardly beaded.

The cross-section of the fiber used for the ball-shaped cotton of the present invention may be any of a round cross-section and an irregular cross-section, and may be hollow or non-hollow. In order to obtain such a filling fiber, it can be produced by melt-spinning using an ordinary spinning device, and then drawing and cutting by a conventional method.

The ball-shaped cotton of the present invention can be obtained by stirring the above-mentioned fiber for filling material under a high-speed air flow. And its size, average diameter 3 ~ 20m
m, preferably 5 to 15 mm. When the average diameter is less than 3 mm, it becomes a nep shape, the bulk performance is inferior, and the cushioning property is poor. On the other hand, when the average diameter exceeds 20 mm, the bulk performance is deteriorated, and the uniformity of the ball-shaped cotton is reduced, which is not preferable.

The size of the ball-shaped cotton can be adjusted by adjusting the fineness and the fiber length, but can also be adjusted by adjusting the strength of the air flow and the processing time. By stirring for about 20 minutes, it is possible to obtain ball-shaped cotton having a desired size.

[0012]

The beaded cotton of the present invention can be composted because it uses biodegradable fiber as a constituent fiber, and even if it is landfilled, it is decomposed in 2-3 years. It is a ball-shaped cotton for stuffing materials that has little impact on the environment.

[0013]

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be described specifically with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. The methods for evaluating various physical properties described in the examples are as follows. (1) Relative viscosity (η) Measured at 20 ° C. using an Ubbelohde viscometer using an equal weight mixed solution of phenol and ethane tetrachloride as a solvent. (2) Fineness Measured according to the method of JIS L-1015-7-5-1A. (3) Fiber length Measured according to the method of JIS L-1015-7-4-1C. (4) Average diameter of ball-shaped cotton The diameter of 50 arbitrarily selected ball-shaped cotton was measured with a caliper, and the average value was defined as the average diameter. (5) Bulk high performance (compression rate and recovery rate) 150 g of ball-shaped cotton of a sample was blown into a bag-like side of 40 cm x 40 cm, and a 160 g flat plate load (initial load) was applied.
After standing for 5 minutes, an average value H0 of the heights of the four corners is determined. Next, after removing the initial load, a flat plate load of 5 kg is applied, and after standing for 5 minutes, an average value H1 of the heights of the four corners is obtained. Next, after removing the 5 kg load, an initial load is applied, and after standing for 5 minutes, the average value H2 of the heights of the four corners is determined. Then, the compression ratio and the recovery ratio are calculated by the following equations. Compression rate (%) = [(H0−H1) / H0] × 100 Recovery rate (%) = [(H2−H1) / (H0−H1)] ×
A sample having a compression ratio of 100 and a recovery ratio of more than 70% was judged to have excellent bulkiness.

Example 1 A biodegradable polylactic acid having a ratio of L-lactic acid to D-lactic acid of 98.8: 1.2 and η = 1.850 was used. It was spun at a discharge rate of 348 g / min at a temperature of 220 ° C. using a spinneret usually used for holes, and was taken at a take-up speed of 800 m / min to obtain an undrawn yarn. At this time, there was no spinning breakage, and the process condition was extremely good.

The undrawn yarn obtained has a tow fineness of 140,000 dt.
ex, 3.58 times the draw ratio, stretched at a stretch temperature of 60 ° C., subjected to a tension heat treatment at 125 ° C., and then supplied to a push-in type crimping machine to apply crimp and cut to 51 mm. And fineness 33dtex, strength 3.0cN / dte
x fibers were obtained.

After weighing 200 g of the biodegradable polylactic acid fiber, the fiber is opened and put into a cotton processing machine.
The beads were stirred for 5 minutes under an air current of mmAq and a stirring speed of 30 m / sec to obtain ball-shaped cotton. Table 1 shows the results of measuring the average diameter and bulkiness (compression rate, recovery rate) of the ball-shaped cotton.

Examples 2 to 6 and Comparative Examples 1 to 6 Table 1 shows the fineness, fiber length and average diameter of ball-shaped cotton of polylactic acid fibers.
In the same manner as in Example 1, ball-shaped cotton was obtained. Table 1 shows the results of measuring the average diameter and the bulkiness (compression rate, recovery rate) of the obtained ball-shaped cotton.

Example 7 Using polybutylene succinate having a biodegradable number average molecular weight of about 50,000, using a commonly used spinneret having 40 holes and discharging at a flow rate of 270 g / min at a temperature of 195 ° C. Except for spinning, a ball-shaped cotton was obtained in the same manner as in Example 1. Table 1 shows the results of measuring the average diameter and bulkiness (compression rate, recovery rate) of the ball-shaped cotton.

[0019]

[Table 1]

As is clear from Table 1, all of the ball-shaped cottons obtained in Examples 1 to 7 are stable in ball shape, have good bulk and high performance, and have problems in operability during production. There was no. On the other hand, in Comparative Example 1, since the fineness was small, the ball diameter of the ball-shaped cotton was small, and both the compression ratio and the recovery ratio were inferior. In Comparative Example 2, since the fineness was large, the fibers were not entangled and did not bead. Next, in Comparative Example 3, since the fiber length was short,
In Comparative Example 4, since the fiber length was long, no beads were formed. In Comparative Example 5, since the bead diameter was small, the compression ratio and the recovery ratio were poor. Furthermore, in Comparative Example 6, the recovery rate was poor because the ball diameter was large.

[0021]

According to the present invention, since it has excellent bulkiness, it is suitable as a filling material for bedding, sofas, cushions, interior materials for automobiles, and the like. The present invention provides a ball-shaped cotton made of biodegradable fiber, which can be decomposed in two to three years even when it is landfilled, so that it has less impact on the environment.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A fiber composed of a biodegradable thermoplastic resin having a single fiber fineness of 2 to 40 dtex and a fiber length of 25 to 6
Composed of short fibers of 4 mm, average diameter of 3 to 2
A ball-shaped cotton made of biodegradable fiber, which is in the shape of a ball of 0 mm. 2. The ball-shaped cotton according to claim 1, wherein the biodegradable thermoplastic resin is polylactic acid.